Decoding Iran’s Foreign Policy

Ross Harrison is Senior Fellow and Director of Research at the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC, USA. He is also a member of faculty at the Department of Political Science in the University of Pittsburgh, USA. His books include Strategic Thinking in 3D: A Guide for National Security, Foreign Policy and Business Professionals (2013) and From Chaos to Cooperation: Toward Regional Order in the Middle East (2017) and he co-edited with Paul Salem, Escaping the Conflict Trap: Toward Ending Civil Wars in the Middle East (2019). He has written numerous articles on Middle East Affairs in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The National Interest, Parameters and Orient.

• 1.Preface2.The Historical Present3.The Global View4.The Regional View5.The Self View6.Capability7.The Strategic View8.The Future9.Conclusion

An excellent portrait of the history and evolution of Iranian foreign policy. It is a realist account that demonstrates at each step how Iranian leaders responded to their environment, and how those actions served, or failed to serve, Iran’s national interests. It clearly delineates how Iran’s world view is shaped by its own history but also how it reacts to the circumstances of the moment. It outlines with great clarity Iran’s fundamental strategies, and considers how its strategic instincts may shape its response to future events. This is a book that calls out to be used in the classroom, since it presents a wealth of factual material without falling into the trap of bias and partisanship that taints so much of the contemporary literature on Iran.